Any other world
by looosie
Summary: Poppy and Peeta have been bestfriends since they were eleven. They've been through everything together. How will Poppy cope when Peeta is in the games? what will happen after the games?


Every year we gather at the city circle. Every year it's the same feeling of fear, freezing any movement in the crowd. Parents pray that their chidren won't be the next to be called. I stand here looking at the sea of faces that surrounds me. Not one face looks happy to be here. I look over to the where Peeta stands. He's focused on the stage, staring intently to something. I realised that what he was staring at was Effie, the capitol lady who was to announce the two tributes for district 12. I missed the first part of here speech because I honestly wasn't interested. She was about to name the two people who would be killed innocently, purely for the entertainment of the capitol. Why would I bother listening to whatever she had to say?

To say I was scared was an understatement. I was terrified that my name would be called. the chances of me being picked were fairly slim, but that meant nothing in this world. In the past, people only had their name in the draw once and they still had been called. Effie walked towards the barrel that held the collection of names. I watched intently as the woman put her hand in the barrel and picked out a piece of paper. It seemed like she was moving in slow motion as she pulled the piece of paper to her face and read the name. "Primrose Everdeen". I Gasped. I didn't know prim personally, but I knew she was a well loved addition to district 12. She was so young. Too young to survive the games. I felt overwhelmingly sad. It seemed so unfair that someone so young could be called. "Prim! No… I volunteer!" Katniss screamed hysterically, as she ran towards the stage. The whole crowd was shocked. Never in district 12 had anyone volunteered before, well not while I've been alive at least. The thought of volunteering seemed ludacris, but I understood why Katniss volunteered. She loves her siste and she'd do anything to keep her safe and alive. Prim had to be pulled away from her older sister by one Gale, one of the boys from the seam. Katniss calmed down and walked towards the stage, wearing the bravest face she could muster. As she stood on the stage, you could see that tears were threatening to spill over. Her face looked emotionless, but her eyes told a different story. She was scared and almost vulnerable, but she looked so strong up on that stage.

Effie stepped towards the microphone to announce the boy tribute. "...And now It's time for the boys..." she paused to pick up a name from the barrel. "...Peeta Mellark!" My heart stopped. Surely she didn't just say Peeta's name. Surely this was my bad hearing? Or a mistake? She had to be wrong. My doubts, or hopes, were shattered as Peeta took a step forward. I stared intently at my best friend as he walked towards the stage, one slow and torturous step at a time. As he walked past me, he grabbed my arm and gently gave me a reassuring squeeze. I know It was meant to be reassuring, but instead, it broke me. It hit me then, that my best friend would be one of the 24 tributes in this years hunger games. Needless to say, The tears started forming.

For the rest of the reaping, I just stared at Peeta, standing up on that stage, and forced the tears not to fall. When the reaping finally ended, I walked towards Peeta's family. His mother looked sad, but not nearly as sad as she should be. She never fully loved Peeta like a mother should, which is something that the two of us had always had in common. When I was eleven, the people of district 12 were offered the chance to become peace keepers. The offer was too good to refuse for my parents. The both of them left me here, by myself. Mr. Mellark, Peeta's dad, took me into his home. Peeta and I became best friends after that. He would tell about how his mother hit him sometimes. Once or twice, I had witnessed her hit him. She was cruel to him, which is why I never liked her.  
>His dad was the complete opposite of his mother. His dad looked shattered. Tears were staining his cheeks and his eyes were red and swollen. I walked towards him and gave him a huge hug. I couldn't imagine the pain he was going through right now. His son was about to leave to enter a battle for his life. I can't comprehend how much that would be killing him right now. "Poppy, did you want to come and see Peeta with me?" He looked at me sympathetically. I nodded in reply. I needed to see Peeta before he left and Mr. Mellark knew that.<p>

When we reached the door that I assumed Peeta was behind, the guards told us that we only had fifteen minutes to talk to him. With that, we walked into the room. Peeta was sitting to one side of the overly large room. His eyes met mine. He looked broken. I ran over to him and hugged him so hard that the air was sucked out of him. "Sorry" I said stepping back so his father could hug him. As he hugged his father, he burst into tears. I'd only seen Peeta cry once in the whole time that I've known him. He's one of the strongest people I've ever met. He never breaks down like this, no matter how bad things get. Seeing him cry naturally made me cry. I turned around and faced the door so I could cry without him seeing. As I tried to rid my face of all tears, more tears would fall. Behind me, I could hear him and his father talking quietly. They were almost whispering. I didn't want to interrupt, so I just stood there, looking around the huge room. The room was bigger than any other room I had seen before. All this space, wasted. It seemed weird. You could fit so much into this room and all that is here is two couches and a few other pieces of furniture. The room was nice though. It felt very homely. The walls were a soft brown colour and the floor was made of a dark coloured wood. Paintings of everything from people to a river were spread evenly throughout the room. If it weren't for the circumstances, maybe I would feel comfortable here. _Peeta is about to enter the games, and you're thinking about what this room looks like. Are you serious? Do you not care? Stop being stupid.  
><em>  
>"Poppy. Come here" Peetas voice pulled me from my thoughts. I turned around and walked towards him. His arms were open, ready for a hug. He pulled me into a tight embrace. The hug was warm and welcoming. I started crying into his chest, realising that there's a chance I may never get to hug this boy again.<br>"Peet. Please promise me you won't die?" I pulled away from him a little bit, so I could see his face.  
>"I can't promise you that, but I can promise you that I'll do everything I can to get out, okay?" He compromised. Tears were forming in his eyes.<br>"Not good enough. You're coming back home, even if I have to find the arena and drag you out, you are getting out." With this, he laughed. A sad laugh, but even so, it was a laugh. There was a silent pause before he started to speak.  
>"While I'm gone, make sure dad is okay. Whatever happens, you can't let him see me die okay?" he whispered to me. I looked up at him shocked.<br>"You seriously think you're going to die, don't you?" he answered my question with a simple nod. "You're stupid if you think that. You're so much stronger than you think. Don't underestimate yourself. You'll win this. I know it" I said while hitting him in the chest. To this, he just pulled me back into a hug.  
>"Please just look after him." I nodded in agreement before he continued. "Also, you need to take care of yourself. Please don't get into any trouble because I'm not going to be there to save you. Please… just be safe. If I do make it out of this, I'm going to need my best friend there." I couldn't help but grin. He knew me too well. He's gotten me out of trouble too many times to count in the past. I seem to get myself into a lot of sticky situatins and Peeta always finds a way to get me out of them.<br>"I'll miss you." Peeta whispered into my hair, making my heart break a little bit. Again, I was sent into tears.  
>"I'll miss you too." I replied, still crying. Peeta was crying now as well. Our time was almost up. "Peeta, you're going to be fine. You'll make it out. I believe in you so much. You're going to go in there, fight for your life, you're going to come out alive and I'll see you when you get back. So, I'm not going to say goodbye, I'm going to say see you later instead, because I will see you later. Wow! I really suck at this inspirational stuff. I'm sorry."<br>"Poppy, you're amazing. Please be careful while I'm gone. I'll see you if I get back." He kissed me on the cheek and stepped back so he could say goodbye to Mr. Mellark.  
>As we were ushered out of the room by the guards, I turned back to him as he waved one last farewell.<p>

Was this really going to be the last time I see Peeta Mellark?


End file.
